Author: Samantha Igo

Climate Change and IMF Debt Sustainability Analysis

There is now a consensus that climate change and climate change policy pose ‘macro-critical risks’ to national economies and the global economy as well. The frequency of climate-related disasters has increased by an order of five over 50 years, according to the World Meteorological Organization. Furthermore, transition risks emerge from a late and uncoordinated introduction […]

The Future of Climate Finance: From Insufficient Targets to Systemic Transformation

With the world again reeling from a new COVID-19 variant, the economic outlook for 2022 is defined by uncertainty and inequality. Advanced economies, where vaccines are widely available, are beginning to recover, but concerns over rising inflation are prodding central banks to consider increasing interest rates. Developing countries, meanwhile, face bleak prospects: low vaccine access […]

Webinar Summary: The Case for a New Bretton Woods

By Katie Gallogly-Swan On Thursday, January 20, the Boston University Global Development Policy (GDP) Center and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) co-hosted a webinar book launch of ‘The Case for a New Bretton Woods’, authored by GDP Center Director, Kevin P. Gallagher, and Richard Kozul-Wright, Director of UNCTAD’s Globalization and Development […]

The Case for a New Bretton Woods

Amid the devastation of World War ll, the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference convened in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire with the goal of designing an interdependent economic architecture for mutual prosperity. Based on a set of common principles of peace, equity and employment, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and precursors to the World Bank […]

Poverty, Inequality and the IMF: How Austerity Hurts the Poor and Widens Inequality

In offering loans to developing countries in exchange for policy reforms, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) typically sets the fiscal parameters within which development occurs. Among the drivers of socio-economic development, an important, yet insufficiently understood, international-level determinant is the spread of IMF austerity policies to developing countries. A new journal article in the Journal for Globalization […]

Climate Risk and IMF Surveillance Policy: A Baseline Analysis

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been tasked with quickly devising a climate change strategy that helps its members meet collective climate change and development goals while maintaining financial stability. A new journal article in Climate Policy by Luma Ramos, Corinne Stephenson, Irene Monasterolo and Kevin P. Gallagher develops an analytical framework of the ‘macro-critical’ nature […]

Chart of the Week: Triaging the Global Vaccination Effort

By Samantha Igo As of late 2021, nearly 60 percent of the United States has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, with similar levels of inoculation across the European Union and other wealthy nations. In stark contrast, just 5 percent of people across all low-income countries have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. […]

How the International Trade and Investment Regime Constrains Pandemic Policymaking – And What Global Leaders Can Do About It

By Rachel Thrasher As COVID-19 has taken millions of lives, governments around the globe have attempted to quickly mobilize and mitigate the health, social and economic impacts of the pandemic. Pandemic-responsive policy interventions ranging from subsidies to trade restrictions, and investment measures to government procurement initiatives, have taken precedence over traditional policy preferences that would […]

Policy Responses to COVID-19: Lessons for the Global Trade and Investment Regime

As COVID-19 has taken millions of lives around the globe, governments everywhere have attempted to quickly mobilize to mitigate the health, social and economic impacts of the pandemic. COVID-responsive policy interventions ranging from subsidies to trade restrictions, and investment measures to government procurement initiatives, have taken precedence over traditional policy preferences that would favor market-oriented […]

7 Opportunities for Making the Most of Development Finance after COP26

By Rishikesh Ram Bhandary and Katie Gallogly-Swan While the outcome of COP26 was far from meeting shared climate goals, there are abundant opportunities to drive change and advance development and climate goals in the coming year. Governments, development finance institutions and civil society must use the achievements in Glasgow as a launch pad for concrete […]